Jan Oglesby makes her living in marketing, so she’s got all the latest technical skills of her trade — social media, computer graphics and website design.
But when it came time to help the Hopkinsville Rotary Club with its split-the-pot raffle, Oglesby went low tech and created a sandwich board to hawk tickets.
A 19th century invention that novelist Charles Dickens gets credit for naming, the sandwich board is an old school advertising tool. It’s pretty much a human billboard. The wearer has a sign on the front and back of the body, attached over the shoulders with suspenders — or in Oglesby’s case, thick strings and big paper clips.
“If there is a long dinner line, it helps because I sell to people while they’re waiting,” Oglesby said.
Spectators will find her walking the Memorial Building every night this week for the 73rd Rotary Auction. There’s no telling how many steps she would have racked up on her Fitbit if she’d remembered to strap it to her wrist for the first night, she joked.
Everyone who buys a $2 ticket from Oglesby is entered into a drawing for half of the raffle proceeds. The winning ticket will be pulled Saturday night. Last year the winner took home close to $2,700.
Oglesby joined Hopkinsville Rotary Club last year. She’s one among 115 active and honorary members, plus dozens of extra volunteers, who put on the annual auction to raise money for college scholarships and local program grants that benefit children.
A 1983 graduate of Christian County High School, Oglesby said she had a Rotary loan to help put her through Murray State University.
Auction Tally
- Monday Total: $124,159.50
Rotary Foundation Grants Awarded
Monday
- $5,000 for educational programs at Jeffers Bend
- $3,500 for special needs swimming lessons and equipment at Hopkinsville YMCA
- $100,000 for an inclusive playground on Pardue Lane
Auction Info
- When: 6-9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 6-10 p.m. Friday and 6 p.m. until the last item is sold Saturday.
- Where: Memorial Building, 1202 S. Virginia St.
- Watch and Listen: On WHOP Radio 98.7 FM or on Hopkinsville Rotary’s website.
- Bid: Call 270-885-7500.
- Eat: At the Rotary Diner for lunch 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and dinner 5 to 8 every night.
- Donate: On the club’s Hour and Goat Club site.
- Don’t miss: A chat with historian William T. Turner at the Goat Club table.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. She spent 30 years as a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition.
